Sana’a Cafe—the San Francisco-based Yemeni coffee brand—is officially coming to Long Beach. It will be the first tenant to take advantage of the DTLB residential complex Resa’s ground-floor retail, setting up shop at the northeast corner of 3rd Street and Pacific Avenue.
And with it, brings a bit of coffee history.
Sana’a Cafe’s Long Beach location is part of an expanding Yemeni coffee culture brewing statewide.
Long before coffeehouses became synonymous with Italy or Seattle, the mountainous terraces of Yemen were cultivating what many historians consider the world’s first commercially traded coffee. That history has become the foundation for a new generation of Yemeni cafés across California—Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. being the most prevalent of them, which expanded quickly in the Bay Area before opening multiple locations across SoCal.
Sana’a Cafe follows that spirit, but even more aggressively, promising to open hundreds of locations across multiple states in the coming months and years. When it comes to stateside focus, the company is pursuing roughly a dozen new California locations, including several more in downtown San Francisco.
Founded in the Bay Area, Sana’a Café has rapidly grown from its flagship in San Francisco’s Financial District. In just a short span, the company has opened locations throughout Oakland, San Rafael, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Los Angeles, and Lake Forest. New locations planned for Drumm Street, Market Street, and Townsend Street underscore the company’s confidence in both the neighborhood and the continued demand for culturally driven coffee experiences.
The pace reflects both the growing popularity of Yemeni coffee and a business model designed to scale without abandoning its cultural identity.
What to expect from Sana’a Cafe’s first Long Beach location…
Rather than positioning itself as simply another specialty coffee shop, Sana’a Café presents itself as a bridge between heritage and contemporary cafe culture. The company draws inspiration from Yemen’s coffee traditions while incorporating the warmth of Levantine hospitality into sleek, modern spaces. That philosophy extends beyond the drinks themselves. The cafes are designed as gathering places where coffee serves as an invitation to community, conversation, and cultural exchange.
Its menu similarly balances authenticity with accessibility. Traditional beverages like Adeni chai, qishr—a spiced drink brewed from coffee husks—and rich Yemeni-style lattes sit alongside familiar espresso drinks, matcha, and specialty iced beverages.
The food program mirrors that duality, pairing Middle Eastern sweets such as baklava and saffron milk cake with cheesecakes, pastries and savory offerings including shawarma, beef turnovers and chicken turnovers. The result is a menu approachable enough for first-time visitors while remaining rooted in flavors familiar throughout the Middle East.
That accessibility has helped fuel the brand’s rapid growth. At a time when San Francisco retail corridors have struggled to refill vacant retail spaces following the pandemic, Sana’a Café has been among the concepts investing heavily in the city’s recovery.
